Wollemi Pine

This is a story about one of the world's rarest and most ancient tree species. Incredibly, it narrowly escaped extinction, yet it will soon be offered to home gardeners so we can grow our own.

It's a wollemi pine, a member of the Araucaria family, which also includes the kauri, bunya, hoop and Norfolk Island pines. It's a conifer, but a very curious one.

In 1994 we only knew them from fossils, but a chance discovery in a rugged gorge in the Blue Mountains, about 200 kilometres west of Sydney, revealed a grove of these ancient plants dating back 200 million years.

Mount Annan Botanic Gardens in south western Sydney is undertaking groundbreaking research into these plants. This includes looking after a conservation collection of the entire wollemi pine species. The gardens holds a clone of each of the 100 or so known plants to exist in the wild.

Wollemi pine world authority, Patricia Meagher, says there are many reasons to want one of these plants. "It's got wonderful leaves, very glossy, quite fine, and ferny looking, with a nice structure. In winter and autumn the plants develop a resin cap on the branches as protection from the cold and dry.

"The plants also have wonderful bubbly bark when they get older - in about 15 years you'd have good thick, bubbly bark.

"It's possible to tell the age of branches on the trees by the leaf shape. Watch for the growth phase of long leaves and then small leaves and then long leaves in the middle and then small leaves. Each is a year's growth. So it's possible to tell how well the tree is growing and the age of any branch by looking at the amount of growth phases on it. The branches are temporary and are eventually dropped.

"The natural architecture of the tree should be used to horticultural advantage. These plants can be used as pot plants and as small trees in the garden, and naturally as a large tree. Because it's a rainforest tree, it also grows well indoors, so it can be used as a pot plant inside."

Patricia says, horticulturally, we have reached the jackpot. This plant has so many features for a home gardener . "Scientifically, every single time we've looked at the tree to learn anything about it, we've discovered something new and very unusual."

She says the trees are quite fast growers. They are slow at first while getting their root systems organised, but then grow half a metre to nearly a metre a year. So they power along.

Patricia agrees the wollemi pine has generated lots of interest. "I'm fascinated by it and I know lots of scientists and horticulturists are amazed. But I'm astounded by the interest of the general public," she said.

I'm completely sympathetic with people who find it fascinating because it comes from the age of dinosaurs, and has been around for 200 million years. There are few left in the wild....but it grows within 200 kilometres of Sydney - one of the most thoroughly botanically explored areas of the country. It's more Australian than Sydney Harbour Bridge and it just reeks with charisma.

Growing a plant that's almost extinct is not that hard. Provide an acid or neutral soil, dig in plenty of compost and it loves food and water. It grows anywhere you can grow its cousin, the Norfolk Island pine, and it will reach about 20 metres in 50 years and 30 metres in 100 years.

The wollemi pine will be a terrific plant for the home garden. You might want to plant it for its rarity or perhaps because it's a unique example of plant evolution. They're a long lived tree so you could well be planting a family heirloom. But the reason I'd plant one of these trees is to have a living connection with the age of dinosaurs.

If you're keen to get your own wollemi pine, a collector's edition will be auctioned in a few weeks. Otherwise, in April next year, it will be available from nurseries.

Further information:

The Wollemi pine collector's auction is at 3pm Sunday October 23 at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Catalogues are available online at www.wollemipine.com email auction@wollemipine.com